The Demons' Lament
by Mincemeats
Summary: From the beginning of Galbatorix's rule, there was a peculiar clutch of servicemen in his employment that defied history, killed indiscriminately, and died in the same darkness in which they lived. Meet the Ra'zac.
1. Chapter 1

**Breathing Heaven's Fury**

It was storming the day the Ra'zac hatched; a deluge fit to wash the land of all life raged in the dark night. In the midst of all the celestial chaos, two colossi loomed within a copse of weather beaten pines, their leathery hides glistening silkily with dampness each time a fork of sulfurous electricity split the mounting thunderheads above. One lay shivering in the mud, her enormous wings twisted into a careful embrace as she shielded her shelled offspring from the elements.

Far off, a dragon roared.

"_Star Mirror, we cannot stay here," _the male chittered softly as he sent the words lancing through the panic in his mate's mind, feeling her conscious swell dark and foreboding over his own. She was not in a good mood.

Intimacy aside, Mirror allowed her words to clatter free in a physical torrent of native squawks from her beak. "Rage Cinders, any other day I would comply with you, but at the moment I find your judgment to be fatally flawed!" a hairline crack appeared in one of the eggs between her claws and she moaned. "Curse the riders to oblivion; I'll fill my stomach on their hatchlings!"

Cinders drew her mind into a mental embrace, nudging her along and taking up one of his children in his claws. _"Don't lock up on me now," _he cautioned sharply, nipping her crest in an attempt to raise her ire and spirit. _"We must move to a safer location before we are found and slaughtered."_

When the charred-meat-reek of fire-breathing-reptile filled the air, Mirror grudgingly complied, gently taking up the other infant and spreading her wings; moonlight cut through the clouds for a brief moment, and rendered the world in silver as they took to the sky.

Even as they coasted eastward on flight weary wings, they could feel the two eggs tremble and reverberate with frustrated mewls.

The birth would soon be upon them all.

It seemed at first that they would never land, and a desperate sort of concern took up their minds and bodies as they rocketed through the wild winds. For every inch of movement they fought for, their chances of finding a suitable shelter seemed to only grow worse. The landscape below was indistinct and webbed in torrents of gushing water, as well as being made precarious by fallen trees and overflowing rivers so that it was almost impossible to touch earth.

But ground they did, and soon too when a reasonably protected gully opened up below. The luck was welcome, and they sank down into a forest of maples, their broad leaves slapping the pairs' sides as they burst through the canopy.

Mirror and Cinders struck dirt heavily in woodland filled with hush. The darkness pooling there was nearly impenetrable—even for the Lethrblakas' keen eyes—and a stifling atmosphere of sun warmed mulch filled the air.

Deeming the maple stand acceptable under the circumstances, the soon to be parents relinquished their precious cargo to the soft loam between their claws and huddled together soddenly over the twins as a measure of calm returned to their exhausted flesh and bones.

"_This won't last long," _Mirror predicted bitterly, grinding her beak with nervousness as she watched her hatchlings fight for their freedom.

"_A lick of time is all we need."_

"_Let it be true . . ."_

The two fell silent, even in their minds, and allowed themselves to revel in the glory of the Ra'zacs' hatching. In the wan light, a tiny claw poked through the surface of one egg with a raspy click, a triumphant squeal soon following the minute victory.

It would be several more minutes before the first of their children broke free, dripping and shuddering from the shell, but when it did, Mirror immediately rushed forward.

She hooked the Ra'zac's squealing beak in her claws and effectively shushed it into quietness as she stared deeply into its eyes. Cinders behaved in a similar manner with the other twin, and the quartet of creatures was silent for several moments.

"_Danger Glint,"_ the mother finally proclaimed gleefully. _"She's ready to tear this world apart."_

"_Austere Guile" _the father chuckled chillingly._ "He's going to run circles around the dimwitted."_

"_Oh this'll be fun," _the two agreed in eerie unison, steering the hatchlings toward each other for introductions.

Having been named for what had been found in their wide open eyes, the twins soon found themselves looking into each other's with increasing levels of confusion. Virtually identical in every way, they bemusedly patted at one another's heads and tangled fingers, sniffed shoulders, and nibbled on carapaces. When at last they seemed happy with theirs and the other's appearance, they both let loose a keening wail.

Glint leaned on her brother, her mouth wide open in hunger as she sought to gain her mother and father's attention. The mated pair was ready though, and a second, grimmer parcel was tossed to the starving siblings.

The dead human struck the ground with a muffled thump, sandy hair bloodied and body stripped of clothing. His young dragon had made a decent meal for the bread breaking Lethrblaka hours before, and its rider was more than enough flesh to satisfy the younglings.

Guile snapped at Glint's face, driving her back with a grating wail as he scuttled over to the meat. She was soon in coming though, and the two bickered over the man's back with increasing voracity until their sharp claws tore a gash along his spine.

As the scent of blood filled the air, something seemed to take hold of the Ra'zac. Their eyes glazed over and the argument was quickly discarded. Guile drew his hatchmate close in a fit of generosity and allowed her to claim the first taste of blood, watching with his head cocked as she lapped at the crimson fluid.

She widened the wound with her barbed tongue, and then invited her brother to take part in the repast. Slowly but surely, the two worked their way through the corpse as Mirror and Cinders looked on, pleased beyond words as they appraised their children with murmured clicks and whistles.

A new family was born, and terror blossomed at the prospect of their future reign.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Deal with the Devil**

Several days of blessed solitude graced Mirror, Cinders, and their hatchlings. Their pursuers had seemed to overshoot their haven, loosing track of their naturally sulfurous scent under the sheer fury of the rain that night. It was an unbelievable stroke of fortune that had surely granted Guile and Glint a chance at life, and for that, their parents were eternally grateful.

The evening of their birth, the two had stuffed themselves to the breaking point upon the flesh of the nameless rider. When only bones remained, Mirror saw fit to construct a temporary nest with their aid and that of the leaf litter cluttering the forest floor. Before long, the twins had a roost to nestle in each day, the expansive canopy and the shade of the mountainside protecting them from gaining anything but troubled infant dreams from the harsh sun.

It was certainly not the cave that the mates had the opportunity to call home during their adolescence, but that was in a different age not long passed. Now it was time for fighting and fear as they fled before the flames of the dragons and their riders. It disgusted Mirror and her mate to think that they had sunk so low, but they knew that each night they awoke to stretch their wings and hunt was a blessing in and of itself—considering the gruesome fate that had befallen much of what remained of their brethren.

They should have known that it would not be long before a human came knocking through the maples, but who it turned out to be was far from their guessing at its wildest.

He arrived during the Ra'zacs' first full moon, descending upon the forest astride a creature the Lethrblaka knew all too well. It was Star Mirror who acted first, descending upon her pupae in a flash of claws and beak. She had Glint and Guile in her talons before Galbatorix had even touched earth, moving away enough so that Rage Cinders could streak past her with enough fury to give his namesake a proper display.

He skittered to a stop as Shruikan's claws tilled the soil raw, dodging in time to avoid a lash of the beast's tail. The King reprimanded his mount in a lazy tone, and the dragon's only response was to blow a jet of noxious smoke from its nostrils in bland distaste, icy eyes rolling to look upon the family of his master's interest.

"_Human, why do you leave your nest?" _Mirror hissed mentally, knowing that the man would not understand her otherwise. _"Are you not the creature known as Galbatorix? We were counting upon the cannibalism you've been partaking in as of late to rid us of some foes."_

The king laughed, dark eyes glittering as he dropped from Shruikan's back. "Come now, it is no fun for me if you've already half guessed the reason for this little visit!"

Glint and Guile eyed him in frank hunger, to which their mother offered a swift punishment. They cried out and nestled with each other in confusion and pain as Mirror nipped their necks enough to cause sufficient hurt. The message was clear: this human was most certainly _not_ food; he was a hunter much like themselves.

"_What is this treachery you speak of?" _Cinders spat, crest pumping with enough blood to stain it dusky crimson.

Galbatorix sobered up enough to pace forward, dwarfed by the sheer immensity of the male Lethrblaka. The father gave him a hiss of warning, but otherwise did not move as the King peered past his legs to look upon the Ra'zac.

"I take it those are your hatchlings?" he spoke with a light air, almost cheerful in fact. "They look healthy enough. You two must be excellent guardians to have protected their birth and first days of life under such vexing conditions."

Mirror was the first to puff her chest in pride, causing Glint and Guile an added discomfort which set them to squabbling amongst themselves. Their exoskeletons were still soft enough for occasional injuries to be sustained, and Glint chittered with delight as she enraged her brother with a small cut to his wrist joint.

Galbatorix laughed once more, heartily enough to show the whites of his teeth. "Now, if only they could stay so carefree forever, hmm?"

Cinders bridled at the tone, slapping a claw down just inches from the King's feet. Shruikan uttered a guttural growl and shifted threateningly, but his rider shook his head with the same air of tranquility he had scolded with before, and faced the accusing eyes of the Lethrblaka head on.

"_I do not wish you to play games with my family," _he susurrated the warning deadly soft through the man's head._ "State your purpose here."_

"I'm not blind to your race's plight," Galbatorix said after a moment, staring levelly at the enormous creature. "Nor am I ignorant to your abilities, your _talents_, if you will."

"_I do not see your point in this, human."_

The King smiled grimly. "Very well then, I'll be blunt with you: I've come offering a deal of sorts, one I'm certain you'll find _very _agreeable."

Cinders would have exchanged a look of bemusement with Mirror were he not bogged down with the responsibility of keeping the dangerous rider in his sights. Instead, he favored his guest with a disbelieving snort. _"And what might this deal of yours entail?"_

"I require your services, you see; particularly that of your children if I am to be truthful. It is apparent to all that I am alone in my stand against the riders but for the employment of useless humans and Urgals. I understand the pupae stage of the Ra'zac to be quite impressive, and I am certain that they'd make excellent dragon hunters if given half a chance."

Cinders and Mirror drew up to their full height, spreading their wings ever so slightly and humming with suppressed emotion. They spoke as one: _"Are you offering us revenge, human? If so, then it is poorly presented. What will you give us in exchange for this perilous vassalage?"_

"A shelter unparalleled by any other, and all the flesh yourselves and the Ra'zac can stomach," Galbatorix's sultry voice had taken on a level tone, dark eyes flickering as watched the checkmate drive home into the Lethrblaka.

Your turn.

"_Where's the catch?" _Mirror inquired, curious despite herself.

"There are none. In return for dealing with matters I cannot trust to humans alone, you all will be housed within Helgrind, the Ebony Pillar outside of my city of Dras Leona. In addition to receiving two sacrifices from the populace each week, the Ra'zac will be instructed in the ways of combat and be put under empirical protection. There's nothing to fear; really, you two are profiting from the situation much more than I am."

The parents took a moment to consider, the gravity of their mental communication sobering up their pupae. At last the female rose up, her eyes dark enough to punch two bottomless holes in the night time ambiance that surrounded her intimidating bulk.

"_You are most generous . . . my liege." _The words rolled off her mind and dropped like stones, alien and weighted with suspicion. _'We would be most honored to accept your proposal." _


	3. Chapter 3

Glint scoffed softly, rolling onto her side and out from under Guile's knobby elbows and knees. That was the third time that day that her hatchmate had awoken her with a harsh jab from one of his limbs, and the Ra'zac was sorely tempted to deliver him a punishing bite for such progressive botherations.

That may have been exactly what she had done, were it not for the fact that he gave a beak splitting yawn, his inner lids retracting as he pulled himself away from the dream world.

He looked confused for a moment, and then focused in on his sister's face in the soothing gloom. "What are you ssstaring at?" he asked, not quite unkindly as he shifted away from the poking nuisance of a femur.

It had been many years that the twins spent around and about the humans, so it was no trouble for Glint to match Guile's human words. "You had a bug on your face." And before he could catch wind of her mischievous tone, she delivered him a swift bat on the brunt of his nose and leapt away cackling as he recoiled from the blow.

"You sssqualid ssslithering ssserpant!"

Glint's hysterics doubled as she scrambled to get as far from the lip of the nest as possible. Guile always fell into a quite literal hissy fit when he was vexed. His penchant for the foreign tongue that they'd been taught only added onto the hilarity of the habit. It was fortunate for them both that he did not often lose his cool outside of Helgrind, otherwise, the two of them would likely become the laughing stock of the King's Special Forces—a laughing stock that dined on the buffoons who dared to so much as chuckle in their direction, that is.

But for now, Glint had nothing but hot blooded antics on the brain, and squealed in mock anger as the driving force of her brother plowed into her from behind. She struck the ground with an audible impact, scattering bones and other debris as she twisted around to face her attacker and clash claws with him. Shell scraped on shell as they ripped away at one another with cushioned swipes; snapping at exposed throats and gaining the upper hand through every dirty trick they could dream up. They tussled in a storm of fluttering capes and hisses, at one point drawing small daggers and squaring off against each other at close range.

In the dim cavern they paced there was no light to set the blades to shining, and instead the blows struck under a cover of misleading shadow. Unwary swordsmanship resulted in a rapped wrist there, a small slice in the shoulder here, and more than enough senseless wailing to raise the dead. Soon enough though, they were all stabbed out, and sheathed their weapons with a mutual air of finality. Guile huffed and Glint followed suit, preening her joints as if nothing had transpired in the past few minutes that was worthy of anything but a wayward thought.

The evening spar was over with for now, and it was time for breakfast. This weekly ritual was made boisterously apparent by the nearly simultaneous—and exceedingly frightening—roars the twins' stomachs gave off. With food suddenly the hot topic on their minds, the Ra'zac had to remind themselves of the fourteen years that had passed since they were hatchlings before they could successfully suppress the urge to cheep at the absent Lethrblaka for sustenance.

Glint set to satisfying her infantile hunger complaints by raging and outright attacking Guile as she waited for him to dress fully; it would not do to meet the meat when one was lacking shoes and pants. Despite the fact that their carapaces made their bodies seem genderless and doll-like, Galbatorix had already expressed his profound distaste at the notion of showing themselves in public in such a state, and had long since bade them to wear the clothes he had specially crafted for their unique forms. Their parents took great satisfaction in mocking them from time to time, flouncing the freedom they sported as monstrous quadrupeds who were not expected to don any sort of garment—even for the sake of decency.

"Sister, I'll have your head if you continue to pessster me so," Guile spoke with real irritation, pecking at the other pupae's meticulously groomed elbow crease hard enough to draw blood when she strayed too close.

"Ack, you've gotten sssome on my shirt!" Having taken hits since she was barely sentient, Glint did nothing but worry over the fact that the coppery liquid on her sleeve would probably draw attention from prey and predators alike. She scowled at the other Ra'zac's look of smugness, and left him in peace for a brief period of time. Guile was not long in coming though, and hauled his hatchmate to her feet from where she'd been petulantly sitting by the nape of her hood as he strode past. She stumbled a bit and cuffed him on the shoulder for his callous handling, but fell into stride with his steps as easy as if she were breathing.

The analogy was more truth than anything else.

They stalked out of the nest room, identical in every aspect down to the way they sniffed the air and sought out the massive shapes of their parents from the dark corners of the vaulted grotto. They did not have to search for more than a few heartbeats before something colossal and leathery shifted near the far side of the room.

Mirror lifted her head and fixed her offspring with one large eye, reflecting them off of the all-encompassing ebony pupil as tiny specks. Her proudly carved head arched up over the back of her mate, and looking closer, the Ra'zac could make out Cinders tangled in with the limbs of their maternal figure. Seeing as how the two had not been to the family nest since the duo's last meal, Guile and Glint silently agreed that it was that time again.

Mirror seemed to snatch up their thoughts and turn them over for a belittling examination. The pupae shifted uneasily, even though they knew well enough that there was no logical way for her to do so, what with their minds being impregnable to external forces. Never the less, they tipped back a shot of molten fear and embarrassment when the Lethrblaka's beak opened in a knowing and malicious grin.

"Mother is absolutely terrifying when she smiles." They shared the thought this time, though neither would have known it. Perhaps it was for the best in any case, seeing as how their perpetual dread of the two monsters they called relatives could have easily been bolstered by the knowledge that both of them were scared stiff.

Downing that liquid blush was more than enough to send them scurrying for the next entryway after showing their parents the proper respect. But after safely making it into the adjacent chamber, Glint and Guile washed down their ludicrous shame with something that was one part curiosity, and another longing. Their shoulders no longer brushed with casual movement as they made their way over to the exit, and something painful welled up to buffer the feelings that they normally sent bouncing the other's way.

Their moment of temporary awkwardness burned away into oblivion as the outer wall loomed up before them. Saliva threaded their jaws together with silvery strands of starvation, and deep down inside of their bodies, the very workings of their guts burned.

"Not until they're inssside, remember?"

"I know."

"It won't be like lassst time; we'll be sure to take it slowly."

An unspoken air of agreement migrated between their tense bodies, and with a steadying breath, they walked through the wall. The last rays of twilight burned their eyes blind for several moments, hellish reds and oranges painting a hodgepodge of fiery flames across their vision. They waited for the world to return, and they smelled the air; their food was certainly there, and they'd wait just as they always did. The real question was whether or not the Ra'zac could restrain themselves.

Years of training had made it possible for them to very near kiss a human before they'd feel the hunger pangs begin, but after seven days of fasting and breathing in the savage pheromones the Lethrblaka were pumping into Helgrind's stagnant air, it was far more difficult than usual to keep from dashing pell-mell across the sand with gangly limbs and sightless eyes.

Glint was the first to recover her freedom from the dusk's harsh grip, and rubbed her head softly in slight discomfort. Her first instinct was to look over her nourishment for the week though, and so she did with eyes just as famished as the rest of her.

A skinny lad of medium height stood listlessly by the side of a woman that looked to be in her mid-fifties. The two of them stared ahead with glazed over expressions, hair both greying and ginger blowing in the harsh winds being dredged up from Leona Lake. Garbed in rough cloth and carrying nothing but the fetters on their wrists and ankles, the two could not have been easier prey if someone had stuffed apples in their mouths.

Which was just as well since Glint loathed fruit.

The female Ra'zac curled her fingers around her male counterpart's upper arm, trembling softly. She had always been the hasty, more animalistic of the two. Glint relied heavily upon her brother to keep her in line, and just like every week, she waited for his confirming touch before striding forward. The smell of warm skin and pumping blood made her bob and weave as if drunk when she took up one of the cables, lurching the boy close and giving him a hidden grin fit to rival that of her mother's. Without looking too closely, she could already tell that her breath was taking effect on the adolescent's mind, and watched with satisfaction as he sunk even lower into his stupor.

"I'll eat you bit by bit, boy," she promised, cheerful in the unrequited exchange as she spun about to face Guile. "You can share, brother. Since you gave me firssst pick today, I'd be upssset if you had nothing but the hag to feassst upon."

"At some point you and I won't be able to tell where the child beginsss and the crone ssstarts!" he chipped in, taking up the woman's chain and leading her along like a stray dog.

"True enough."

That night they wrestled over the ruins of god's temple. Galbatorix's stifling clothes lay in a wadded heap up against the wall, the dark folds watching blankly as a gruesome play unfolded within the feeding chamber. The Ra'zac had degenerated completely into what even the King wished to hide, and chattered away at one another with the aid of sharp rattles and hisses that bounced off of the walls like bat calls.

The boy had been ripped to ribbons, and his splayed corpse provided a perfectly acceptable table and seating arrangement for the two gorging creatures. Viscera had taken to tangling the twin's feet, holding Guile back even as he reached to deposit a nameless chunk of flesh into his sister's waiting maw. She lay cradled in the exposed and cracked ribs, giggling a rattling hum signature to her species. Guile joined in, and the hall rang with the sounds of merry making devils.


	4. Chapter 4

**Growing Pains **

"Happy birthday to you, our hatchlings one and two!" a dual symphony rang through the Nesting Room, uttered in the harsh clicks and low hums that only the Lethrblaka could make. Startled, the Ra'zac rose bleary eyed from their bed of bones and fluff, peering warily at the approaching colossi as they stalked in through the massive doorway.

Inky shadows played tricks over the Lethrblakas' lean bodies, making talons sharper, muscles starker, and beaks seem more vicious than usual. They were a formidable husband and wife, large enough to hold their own against most anything that the world had to throw at them. And were it not for the sheer amount reverence that the siblings felt toward their parents, they surely would have scurried away in fear when faced so blatantly with their might.

Mirror was at the forefront, and it was she who opened her beak to speak once more. "Has it been sixteen years already?" she mused, darkening the nest with her shadow as she leaned in to caress Guile with a gentle claw. The pupae was uncertain as to whether or not he should be taking his mother's affections in stride, but eventually let out a trusting cluck and nuzzled up to her talon.

"Yesss mother, yesss father," they answered softly, watching as Cinders joined them with an air of fluidity reminiscent of a storm driven breeze. The elder male unit of their family was the darkest in coloration, if not a tad smaller than his female counterpart. As a contrast to Mirror who would dive headfirst into every conflict—bloodlust washing all traces of her reason away—he'd wait in the darkness and deliver horrifying wounds that outranked even the viciously frank assaults partial to his mate.

His children feared him, and were right to.

Mirror withdrew her paw and nestled up against the side of her partner, both of them peering down upon the much smaller Ra'zac with an unreadable expression clouding their ebony eyes. Their offspring shifted nervously under the weighty scrutiny. Glint vividly imagined her father swallowing her whole, and Guile thought something of a similar nature as he stared down his maternal figure. There was a brief silence, and then Cinders grunted and handed the Ra'zac a scroll. The paper pinched between his nails was almost laughably small in comparison, and as Glint reached for it, she marveled over the fact that it had remained intact even through the Lethrblaka's rough handling.

"Galbatorix has summoned you," the enormous male chittered, he and Mirror making no effort to hide their disgust at the prospect. "He was thoughtful enough to send it by way of hawk this time."

That explained the Lethrblakas' foul mood in full to the quizzical twins; they knew all too well that King had been steadily increasing in frugality over the years. A lone man upon the back of a sweat lathered steed had been sent to deliver their subpoenas and parcels for the better part of their lives. To the siblings and their family, it was like receiving a fortune cookie every now and again. Of course they were interested in the note, but the flesh packages that brought it received the bulk of their attention.

Repeated years of this ghastly habit had slowly become common knowledge within the King's forces—it had gotten to the point where only new recruits that had never heard of the Ra'zac could be goaded into making the journey. Now, it seemed as if Galbatorix had finally reached a point where he could no longer spare the extra soldiers and equines.

With flesh still packing their guts from their fairly recent feeding, the Ra'zac were more amused by the turn of events than their disgruntled parents. Both took it upon themselves to indulge in a quiet chuckle as they cracked the waxen seal.

"Our Lord and Master Galbatorix of Alagasia has bid the Ra'zac to appear before him in open court. They are to attend their Defensive Combat and Human Method courses as the sun fades this day, as per their usual schedule. However, directly after they have been dismissed by the High Elder Koroth, Austere Guile and Danger Glint are to report to the Seamstress quarters for their garb fitting. A supplementary course in court behavior, manners, and etiquette shall be added onto today's Human Method class for their benefit. The Ra'zacs' participation in this event is not negotiable."

Glint let out a shrill whistle, snatching the paper from her brother and holding it tight in her spiny hands. After reading it over a couple of times, her shoulders drooped and she trudged dispiritedly toward her mother. "Will they put me in a dresss?" she wailed, falling gracelessly upon the Lethrblaka's front claws. All fear had been drained from her body by despair, and once more she cuddled up to the hellish creature as if she were a hatchling.

"Oh my miserable little pupa, I doubt that wretch of a king even realizes that you're a female. Besides, you know he has always coveted symmetry with you two. You're supposed to appear as one fearsome force, synchronized and terrifying in your coordinated similarity."

Prompted, the Ra'zac spared a glance over to where Guile stood, calmly examining the note. He was chewing on one of his fingers, clucking something to himself in the shadows. Unperturbed by his sister's woes, he was more focused on what an open court visit would actually mean for them. "You know, this ssseems like a shrewd set up for a high profile assassination," he mused, jabbing at the weathered parchment. "The way this whole thing is coordinated sssmells as fishy as Leona Lake."

His sibling and parents uttered a collective hiss, heads bobbing and weaving at the thought.

"What's so sssuspicious about it?" Glint queried, hefting herself off of Mirror and scuttling over to where her colleague stood. "It sssounds to me like Galbatorix just wants to show us off again."

"Hardly; look here, hatchmate." He stabbed a victorious finger at the bottom of the page. "The King himself sssigned this thing. Sssince when does the High Lord of Alagasia pay attention to menial letters like this?"

"Let's sssay you're right; who could possibly be important enough for the Ra'zac themselves to be left in the dark? Obviously, he's worried we'll be tortured into a confession about the whole plan if we ssscrew up."

Guile clacked his beak once, sitting up from his hunched posture for the first time in a long while. "Sssister, do you remember the Urgals?"

The Female growled, digging through her twisted mind for an image to go with the name. "Those brutes we sssmelled to the East last sssummer? Mother and Father told us about them, but I've never ssseen one myself."

"Well, we may just get to taste the death of one sssoon. What better way to take out a monstrous ally but with another horrific associate?" the Ra'zac chittered, beginning to pace. "Well this is a sssurprise! It ssseems that relations with the Kull have sssoured into sssomething quite fetid as of late."

His sibling caught on fast, her scissor-like jaws arching into a ghastly grin. "Ah, I sssee where this is going! Galbatorix is hoping to quickly take out a troublesome and very high ranking Urgal, correct? He must have more confidence in our talents than we gave him credit for; even if he did plan on leaving us clueless up until the last moment, this is a rather delicate mission that not just anybody would be able to handle." She uttered a raspy and perfectly chilling laugh. "He's run out of options! We're the only ones who could come close to killing sssuch a lofty individual without being apprehended."

"Be ready for the blame that may come," Glint's brother cautioned, observing her morbid glee with guarded delight of his own. "When all is sssaid and done, that bad blood will be on _us _if sssomething goes wrong."

"Hah! When has homicide ever gone right?"


End file.
